Beatles Tapes IV: Hong Kong 1964

Here is the essential piece of Beatlemania, so rare in fact that, until now, it has never before been released in any format or documented in any book on the band.

John, Paul, George, and Jimmy! I beg your pardon? Yes, that`s right, Jimmy Nicol, stand-in drummer for this portion of the 1964 World Tour, and quite possibly the classiest footnote in all of Beatles history.

The Beatles Tapes IV: Hong Kong documents a press conference with the Beatles that took place in Hong Kong during their 1964 Asian and Australasian tour. It has never before been released in any form.

Recorded at The President Hotel, Kowloon, Hong Kong on June 8, 1964.

In July 1964, the Beatles’ first movie, A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, was released to rave reviews. Their press reception at a Hong Kong hotel on their way home from their Australian and Asian tours a couple of months later finds them tired but jubilant, still courteously returning the occasional journalistic hand-grenade (“Do you think you rely a lot on the amplification?”), and still constantly indulging in therapeutic in-jokes to relieve the pressure of constant public scrutiny.